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What we call "I" is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale. — Shunryu Suzuki

Philosophical literature · Religious literature

What we call "I" is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale.

Shunryu Suzuki
1970
★ 3.6
Provenance
Citation
Suzuki, Shunryu. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Weatherhill, 1970. Originally a talk given at his Zen center in c. 1969, Los Altos, CA, USA.

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In its widest possible sense, however, a man's Self is the sum total of all that he can call his, not only his body and his psychic powers, but his clothes and his house, his wife and children, his ancestors and friends, his reputation and works, his lands and horses, and yacht and bank account. All these things give him the same emotions. If they wax and prosper, he feels triumphant; if they dwindle and die away, he feels cast down.

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